Hair dryers



A. A. GIUFFRE Aug. 2, 1966 HAIR DRYERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 15,1963 FIGZ INVENTOR. ANTHONY A. GIUFFRE BY I,

ATTORNEY A. A. GIUFFRE Aug. 2, 1966 HAIR DRYERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FiledMarch 15, 1963 INVENTOR. AN TH ONY A GI U FFRE ATTO RNEY United StatesPatent 3,263,342 HAIR DRYERS Anthony A. Giulfre, 4344 N. 70th St.,Milwaukee, Wis. Filed Mar. 15, 1963, Ser. No. 265,483 6 Claims. (Cl.34-76) This invention relates to improvements in hair dryers, and moreparticularly to a novel system for dehumidifying and heating air for usein the moisture abstraction process.

The major purpose of the present invention is to create a hair dryingstructure utilizing refrigeration processes for dehumidifying as well asheating air delivered by the dryer, the system being so arranged that itis ready for the drying operation a few moments after the start of thecycling system, all while efiiciently utilizing electrical energy fordriving power with a relatively high BTU output from the system. Thesystem also advantageously embodies a novel arrangement of elements forheating air and regulating the temperature of the air delivered by thesystem.

A further object of my invention is to provide a device of the characterdescribed that is mobile and compact and which may be easily moved fromone location to another.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a device that hasmanually actuated control means, that may be set to produce various andselected temperatures of the air delivered through a drying hood.

Still another object of the invention is to permit hair to be dried at alower temperature.

Other and further objects of my invention will become more apparent asthe description proceeds, when taken with the claims and in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a drying unit embodying the presentinvention;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the cabinet, illustrated in FIGURE 1but open at its back, thus illustrating the arrangement of interiorpartitions, air duct for the hood and louvers;

FIGURE 3 is a schematic layout of the complete circuit employed withinthe cabinet; and

FIGURE 4 is a vertical cross section of the cabinet of FIGURE 1 and thearrangement of the component parts within the cabinet.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughoutthe several views, and referring specifically now to the same, thecharacter generally designates a cabinet, or enclosure, equipped with adeflecting hood 11, attached at 12 to an air duct. The entire unit isshown mounted at its four corners on swivel casters, or adjustablesupports shown as 13.

The cabinet 10 is shown as a boxlike form.

The enclosure or cabinet consists of a pair of side walls 14 and 15, afront plate 16, a top plate 17, a bottom plate 18, and a back plate (notshown) which is removably attached to the cabinet. Obviously either theback plate or the front may be removable, and mounted in any efficientor convenient manner, to provide access to the interior of the cabinet10.

An air delivery duct extending vertically within the cabinet, projectsoutwardly at 21 through the top plate 17 as shown in FIGURES 2 and 4.The duct 20 is open at its lower end 22 to permit engagement with theoutlet from a blower 23, driven in a conventional manner by a motor 24,mounted on the bottom plate 18 of the cabinet assembly.

A horizontal partition 25 extends laterally from the outer wall 14 (seeFIG. 4), at an upper level within the cabinet to a vertical plate 34.Partition 25 supports an evaporator unit 26. Another horizontalpartition 27 ex- "ice tends from a vertical plate 33 to the other sidewall 15 for supporting a condenser 28 at a high level within thecabinet. Thus evaporator 26 and condenser 28 are on opposite sides ofthe cabinet with the air delivery duct 20 therebetween.

Still another horizontal partition 29 extends across the entire cabinet,from one outer wall 14 to the other outer wall 15. This partition 29supports a drain pan 30 beneath evaporator 26, and is provided with anopening 31 below condenser 28 to permit air circulation past acompressor unit 32. Unit 32 is a self-contained motor driven compressor,and is mounted on the bottom plate 18 beneath condenser 28.

The duct 20 is encased between the two vertical plates 33 and 34. Theplate 33 is provided with a louvered opening 35. The plate 34 isprovided with an opening 36. Since duct 20 is smaller than the enclosureformed by plates 33 and 34, air may circulate around the duct 20 andthrough the openings in the plates 33 and 34 (see FIG. 2). Plate 33terminates at the level of partition 27 to permit air to circulate abovethe plate and to condenser 28.

The top plate 17 is provided with an air inlet 37 which may have afilter 38 positioned immediately below it.

The evaporator 26 is provided with an adjustable pressure responsiveexpansion valve 39 connected therewith by a tube 40. A refrigerant tube41 equipped with a transparent glass gauge 42 extends between liquidaccumulator 43 and valve 39. A refrigerant tube 44 extends betweenaccumulator 43 and the condenser 28, another tube 45 extends between thecompressor 32 and condenser 28 and a tube 46 leads from the compressor32 back to the evaporator 26. Valve 39 is a manually adjustable typewhich maintains a predetermined and selected pressure in the evaporator26 and suction line 46.

A damper control 47, in the form of a pressure responsive bellows fed bya tube 48, connected to the line 45, moves the damper of the louveredopening to and from open and closed positions in response to certainvariances in pressure in the refrigerant line between the compressor andcondenser.

The system, as herein described, is highly advantageous in use. Thesystem is so arranged that very little time is required between thestart of the system and the time that the systemis deliveringdehumidified air at the desired temperature through hood 11.

When the system is turned on, as by a manual control switch (not shown)for the compressor and blower motor, the pressure conditions in thecondenser and evaporator are substantially the same. At this time thedamper control 47 holds the louvers 35 in the open position. Air thusflows in through inlet 37, past the evaporator 26, through the louveropenings for delivery through the duct 20, thus bypassing the condenser.As the compress-or continues its operation, the electrical energyapplied thereto is converted into heat and the refrigerant passed to thecondenser includes this heat. With substantially no air passing over andaround the condenser to remove this heat, the condenser temperature andpressure rise rapidly, thus creating .a pressure differential betweenthe condenser and the evaporator.

The increased heat in the condenser and the attendant increasedcondenser pressure puts the refrigerant passing therethrough in rapidrmotion where it collects in front of the expansion valve 39. With thisincrease in pressure, valve 39 further restricts flow to the evaporatorso as to maintain the selected evaporator pressure.

At this time, the system is ready for the drying operation which nowcommences some three to five minutes after the start of the cyclingsystem.

With the increase in the condenser pressure, damper control 47 isactuated to close the louvers 35. With this bypass closed, the inflowingair passes from the evaporator to the area around the condenser where itpicks up heat from the condenser and thence past the compressor where itagain may pick up heat before delivery through the hood duct 12.. Dampercontrol 47 is so designed that it maintains the dampers in closedposition until the pressure condition in line 45 achieves apredetermined low level, which is generally that low pressure conditionexisting when compressor 22 is idle. In this regard, the condenser isnot cooled sufficiently by the inflowin g air as to cause a drop inpressure suflicient to open the dampers.

Since the temperature of the infl-owing air is reduced by evaporator 26,moisture may be condensed therefrom where it may collect in the drainpan 30. The temperature of this air is then raised before deliverythrough the hood 11. Thus, the system may deliver warm air of arelatively low humidity content through hood 11, where it may absorbmoisture from the hair of the patron using the dryer.

Expansion valve 39 is of a type which may be set to regulate thepressure in evaporator 26 by varying the flow area through the valve inresponse to pressure changes in the line 41. This valve may fluctuateslightly toward and away from the closed position during the dryingoperation, but it remains essentially in the set position. This valveacts as a thermostat to control the hood discharge temperature. Byregulating this setting the temperature of the air discharged from hood11 may be varied. For example, with a one-half horse power compressorand with a valve 39 variously set to maintain varying pressures rangingfrom on the order of 17 to 28 pounds per square inch, and with theincoming air at temperatures of approximately 70 F., the temperature ofthe air discharged from hood 11 may be varied from around 105 F. to 120F. At the lower pressure setting, the temperature of the discharged airis lower. At higher pressure settings the temperature is higher.

The result is a relatively high B.t.u. discharge from the hood 11 Whileutilizing small amounts of electrical energy, as compared toconventional drying equipment utilizing electrical heating elements,with or without desiccant chambers to absorb moisture from the airdelivered through the hood.

The passage arrangement within the dryer efficiently utilizes arelatively small amount of space to enable the sequential passage of airthrough a cooling and dehumidifying stage as represented by theevaporator and then a heating stage as represented by the condenser andcompressor.

The system also enables a constant withdrawal of moisture fromthe air inthe room in which the equipment is located. In this regard the room airwhich is passed into the cabinet is constantly dehumidified before it isreturned to the room.

Whereas I :have shown and described certain operative forms of theinvention, it should be understood that many variations in and to theinvention are possible within the scope and spirit of the invention. Thescope of the invention should be limited only by the scope of thehereinafter appended claims.

I claim: 1

1. A hair dryer system including an outlet hood, a duct connected tosaid hood and means for delivering air through said duct and to saidhood for discharge through said hood, means defining air dehumidifyingand heating passages connected to one another, air inlet means in said70 dehumidifying passage and means establishing communication betweensaid heating passage and said duct, a refrigerant evaporator in saiddeh-umidifying passage for cooling and dehumidifying air passingtherethrough, a

condenser and a compressor in said heating passage for heating airflowing therethrough, said compressor, condenser and evaporator beingconnected together for cycling refrigerant therethrough, bypass meansfor directing the 5 flow of air direct from the evaporation to thecompressor to thereby avoid a heat exchange relation with saidcondenser, means for maintaining the pressure of said evaporator at apreselected amount whereby the pressure and temperature of saidcondenser builds up rapidly to a predetermined amount, and meansresponsive to a buildup in the condenser pressure to a predeterminedlevel for thereafter closing said bypass means to enable heatabstraction from said condenser.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said last named means includes pressureresponsive means in a refrigerant line between said compressor andcondenser, and a louver assembly interconnected therewith .to close saidbypass means upon attainment of a predetermined pressure in said line.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein said pressure maintaining means is inthe form of a manually adjustable, pressure responsive valve which isformed and adapted to maintain a preselected pressure in the evaporator.

4. The system of claim 1 characterized by and including means beneathsaid evaporator for trapping condensed moisture therein.

5. A hair dryer including a base having walls formed and adapted todefine compartment means therewithin, a duct positioned centrally withinsaid base and an outlet 30 hood fixed to said base and in communicationwith said duct, said hood being formed and adapted for positioning overthe human head, refrigerant means including an evaporator condenser, andcompressor in said compartr ment means and refrigerant tubing forcirculating liquid refrigerant from said compressor to said condenserand then to said evaporator so as to cool the area adjacent saidevaporator so as to condense moisture from said are-a, means in saidarea for collecting moisture condensed from said air circulated pastsaid evaporator, means for admitting air from the area adjacent saidcondenser so as to heat said air, and means for delivering said heatedair under a forced flow through said duct and hood, so as to discharge aflow of heated, dehumidified air through said hood and into the areasurrounding said hood, said base including partition means dividing thespace within said base into a dehumidifying compartment on one side ofsaid duct in which said evaporator is located, and a heating compartmentin which the condenser is located on the other side of said duct, saidpartition means having passages therein for the flow of air from thedehumidifying compartment to the heating compartment and from theheating compartment to the duct.

6. The dryer of claim 5 wherein a blower is located in 55 the bottom ofsaid base and connected to said duct for causing said forced flow ofair, and said compressor is located in the bottom of said base.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,837,798 12/1931Shipley 34 77 2,314,101 3/1943 Phipps 34-77 2,335,553 11/1943 Valverde34-77 2,527,745 10/1950 Lawrence 3477 2,570,808 10/1951 Hermes 34 772,716,289 8/1955 Lauck 34 77 2,732,628 1/1956 Giuffre 34-47 WILLIAM F.ODEA, Primary Examiner.

NORMAN YUDKOFF, Examiner.

F. E. DRUMMOND, C. R. REMKE,

Assistant Examiners.

1. A HAIR DRYER SYSTEM INCLUDING AN OUTLET HOOD, A DUCT CONNECTED TOSAID HOOD AND MEANS FOR DELIVERING AIR THROUGH SAID DUCT AND TO SAIDHOOD FOR DISCHARGE THROUGH SAID HOOD, MEANS DEFINING AIR DEHUMIDIFYINGAND HEATING PASSAGES CONNECTED TO ONE ANOTHER, AIR INLET MEANS IN SAIDDEHUMIDIFYING PASSAGE AND MEANS ESTABLISHING COMMUNICATION BETWEEN SAIDHEATING PASSAGE AND SAID DUCT, A REFRIGERANT EVAPORATOR IN SAIDDEHUMIDIFYING PASSAGE FOR COOLING AND DEHUMIDIFYING AIR PASSINGTHERETHROUGH, A CONDENSER AND A COMPRESSOR IN SAID HEATING PASSAGE FORHEATING AIR FLOWING THERETHROUGH, SAID COMPRESSOR, CONDENSER ANDEVAPORATOR BEING CONNECTED TOGETHER FOR CYCLING REFRIGERANTTHERETHROUGH, BYPASS MEANS FOR DIRECTING THE FLOW OF AIR DIRECT FROM THEEVAPORATION TO THE COMPRESSOR TO THEREBY AVOID A HEAT EXCHANGE RELATIONWITH SAID CONDENSER, MEANS FOR MAINTAINING THE PRESSURE OF SAIDEVAPORATOR AT A PRESELECTED AMOUNT WHEREBY THE PRESSURE AND TEMPERATUREOF SAID CONDENSER BUILDS UP RAPIDLY TO A PREDETERMINED AMOUNT, AND MEANSRESPONSIVE TO A BUILDUP IN THE CONDENSER PRESSURE TO A PREDETERMINEDLEVEL FOR THEREAFTER CLOSING SAID BYPASS MEANS TO ENABLE HEATABSTRACTION FROM SAID CONDENSER.